A Novel Interpretation of Structural Dot Plots of Genomes Derived from the Analysis of Two Strains ofNeisseria meningitidis

• Published in: Genomics, proteomics & bioinformatics proteomics & bioinformatics, 2010, Vol.8 (3), p.159-169
• Main Author: Wilfred R. Cuff Venkata R.S.K. Duvvuri Binhua Liang Bhargavi Duvvuri Gillian E. Wu Jianhong Wu Raymond S.W. Tsang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 基因组结构; 序列类型; 流行病学特征; 脑膜炎
• ISSN: 1672-0229

Neisseria meningitidis is the agent of invasive meningococcal disease, including cerebral meningitis and septicemia. Because the diseases caused by different clonal groups （sequence types） have their own epidemiological characteristics, it is important to understand the differences among the genomes of the N. meningitidis clonal groups. To this end, a novel interpretation of a structural dot plot of genomes was devised and applied; exact nu- cleotide matches between the genomes ofN. meningitidis serogroup A strain Z2491 and serogroup B strain MC58 were identified, leading to the specification of various structural regions. Known and putative virulence genes for each N. meningitidis strain were then classified into these regions. We found that virulence genes of MC58 tend more to the translocated regions （chromosomal segments in new sequence contexts） than do those of Z2491, notably tending towards the interface between one of the translocated regions and the collinear region. Within the col- linear region, virulence genes tend to occur within 16 kb of gaps in the exact matches. Verification of these tendencies using genes clustered in the cps locus was sufficiently supportive to suggest that these tendencies can be used to focus the search for and understanding of virulence genes and mechanisms of pathogenicity in these two organisms.